Mining is not evil, but it is expensive to the planet. An open-pit operation moves enormous volumes of rock and consumes a great deal of water to produce a single carat of cut stone. We chose a different route for a simple reason: we could.

Grown Above Ground

Our lab-grown stones are produced in a controlled reactor that reproduces the heat and pressure under which diamonds form in the earth. Weeks instead of a billion years; a footprint measured in square metres instead of square kilometres. Chemically and optically the result is identical to a mined stone.

Because they are made rather than found, their origin is documented at every step. There is no mixing of parcels from unknown sources, and no point at which a stone's history becomes a guess.

Metal: What We Can and Cannot Claim

All of our silver is 925 sterling silver, and sterling silver is fully recyclable — an old ring can become new metal with no loss of purity and no quality trade-off. What we cannot do today is certify the recycled content of the metal that arrives at our bench, because our supplier does not provide that documentation. So we do not claim it.

That is the whole position: we tell you the material, we tell you it is recyclable, and we leave the phrase "made from recycled metal" off the page until we can show you the paperwork behind it.

Packaging

Every order arrives in a rigid gift box, so the piece can be handed over as it is without being wrapped again. That box has a film surface, which means there is plastic in our packaging — so we do not describe it as plastic-free.

The honest version is short: we have not switched boxes yet, and we would rather say that than publish a claim a supplier invoice cannot back up. If the packaging matters for your order, write to us before you buy and we will tell you exactly what goes into the parcel.

What We Cannot Claim

We avoid the phrases "carbon neutral" and "zero impact", because no manufactured object has zero impact. What we can tell you is where our stones come from, how our metal is worked, and what we have chosen not to buy. Traceability documentation is available on request through service@nvwamoi.com.